“And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through, separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete and found blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (The Messiah)." I Thessalonians 5.23 (AMP)

A Life Set Apart… This is the life we have been created to live: to be set apart from the world, and consecrated completely to God.

As Believers, we have been divinely chosen and the position to which we have been called is a privileged one. God has not separated us from the world in order to keep us from having a good time. Rather, He has chosen that we be separate so that our lives would stand out from the world around us, clearly displaying the Glory and works of God: His standard of living which is literally out of this world.

I Peter 2.9 says that as Believers we are a select, chosen-out species, a most royal order of priests; a pure, sacred, holy race, an ethnicity set apart from all others. We are God’s own distinct, exclusive possession, called for the specific purpose of proclaiming and demonstrating His Glory – the power, excellence, and goodness of our God.

He called us out of darkness and into His glorious Light. Now we are to bear the image of that Light. Our lives, compared to the world, should be as different as day and night. We are called to be brilliant, shining lights in the midst of darkness.

In Matthew 5.14-16, Jesus said that we are the Light of the world – a brightly lit city on a hill which cannot be hidden. We have the Light of God burning inside us.

Do not hide the Light! Let your light so shine before men, that they may see the awesome works of God through you and glorify your Father in Heaven.

Is that not being set apart?! Shining like a search-light in the midst of a blackout! And do we think that when we live as that Light God has called us to be, that the world will not notice that there is definitely something different about us – and will they not drop to their knees and glorify God as they experience the power and glory of God being poured out – yes, through us?!

Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who BELIEVES in Me, the works that I do HE WILL DO ALSO, and GREATER WORKS THAN THESE HE WILL DO, because I go to My Father” (John 14.12).

A few chapters preceding the above verse, Jesus had said that He was the Light of the world; and the ones who follow Him will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John 8.12). Because we follow Him, we have His Light in us and now we are also the Light of the world. As we actively believe in Him, we will do the Greater Works He promised: displaying all His Goodness, and God will be glorified.

Our life set apart opens an outlet for God to manifest His Presence to the world. Our life set apart demonstrates that everything God has said is true and is a reality.

To a devastated world, the peace and wholeness we bring to situations demonstrates that what God says is a reality: the healing, blessing, and prosperity we bring to those who are hurting are proof that God will do what He said.

The world will know that God is Real when they know that He is real in us.We are God’s connection of Life and Light to the world around us. But the Glory and Power of God cannot flow through us unless we live set apart. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be set apart, holy, and without blame before Him in love (Eph. 1.4); yet, being set apart is not automatic. He chose us to be set apart – now we must live set apart.

A Life Set Apart is a life of daily consecration. It requires making the choice every day to live God-focused instead of world-focused. Not only does it require daily consecration of our heart, but of our entire existence – our mind and body, our speech and conduct, our pursuits, our dreams, and the way we spend our time, our resources, and our passions.

In order to be set apart, we must be set completely on God. No this does not mean that we have to (or get to) leave this world and move to another planet. In John 17.15-17, Jesus prayed: “I do not pray that You [Father God] should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. SANCTIFY them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.”

Jesus prayed that the Father would not take us out of the world but that He would keep us while we are in the world. We are in this world, but we are not of it. In verse 17, Jesus said, “SANCTIFY them by Your truth.” Sanctify means to “set apart”. He prayed that God would set us apart by His truth, which is His Word. Following in verse 19, He said, “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself (set Myself apart) that they also may be sanctified (set apart) by the truth.”

Jesus set Himself apart so that we could be set apart. His life is a living example of what a life set apart is supposed to be. He did not do anything on His own. Everything He did was a direct response to the Father’s instructions and the leading of the Holy Spirit. He lived in complete submission to the Father. Not only did He submit, but He considered doing the Father’s will to be His daily bread:

“My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.” John 4.34

If that was Jesus’ most essential sustenance for life, then it should be ours as well. Our life’s hunger should be His Word and doing His will.

As we embrace His will (His pleasure) as our most vital necessity, then we will see the works of God fulfilled in us – we will do the Greater Works. This is not a matter of choice – this is our calling and our destiny.

The world is desperately seeking Light – we are the ones who have that Light. It is time to let the Light shine to its fullest – to let this abundant Life of God flow from us into the lives of people who have lived in darkness:

The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. – Isaiah 9.2

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place – For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those being saved and among those who are perishing” (II Corinthians 2.14-15).

As Believers, we are the very essence of the Anointed One in the earth. It is our Life Set Apart which gives Him place to fully reveal all He is and manifest Himself – His glory – through us.

As you live your life of daily consecration to the Father, living pure and set apart wholly unto Him – my prayer for you is that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete and found blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus the Anointed.

As you live out your divine call, you will see His goodness fill and flood every facet of your life.

You are God’s own precious, priceless, sacred, chosen, holy possession – His treasure –You are Set Apart for Him.